Tales from the Arabian nights
by oneiroitane
Summary: The beautiful Teresa's royal husband treatens to kill her, so every night she diverts him by weaving wonderful tales of fantastic adventures, leaving them unfunished so that he spares her life to hear the ending on the morrow. AU based on the book Tale from the Arabian nights
1. Chapter 1

_**Introduction**_

A lot time ago, there was a king, who was said to be the best monarch of his time. His people loved him and his enemies feared him and when he died he left his kingdom in a more prosperous and powerful condition than any king had done before him.

He had two sons Killian and Patrick who loved each other tenderly. Killian was the oldest son and cut off the kingdom and made his brother king.

Now the king Patrick Jane had a wife whom he loved more than everything in the world named Angela and he gave her the greatest of dresses and jewels.

But his heart filled with sorrow and shame when he accidentally discovered after several years that she had deceived him and he was obligated to carry out the law and ordered to put her to death.

His blow was so heavy and in his mind thought every woman was as wicked as his wife. So every evening he married a fresh wife and he had her strangled the next morning by his counselor.

The poor man fulfilled his task with a stone heart but there was no escape .

The king's behavior cause horror and fear in his town. In almost every house was a father weeping for the loss of his daughter and at the rest feared about their children. A few years ago , it was a blessing to have their daughters to marry the king but now it was a curse.

The counselor had two daughters himself of whom the eldest was called Teresa and the youngest Anna. Anna had no particular gifts to distinguish her from the other girls but her sister Teresa was clever and courageous and her beauty excelled that any girl in the kingdom. Her father gave her the best masters in philosophy, medicine, history and the fine arts.

One night, the counselor was talking to his eldest daughter who was the pride and the light of his life and Teresa said to him:

"Father, I have a favor to ask of you. Will you grant it?"

"You know I can't refuse you anything." he replied with a soft smile.

"Then listen me please. I'm determined to stop this barbarous act of the king once and for all."

"That would be an amazing thing to do but how do you propose to accomplish it?" he asked curious.

"My father..." Teresa said and took his hand " it is you who have to provide the king with a new wife every day. And I implore you to allow the honour to fall fall upon me."

"Are you out of your mind?" the counselor cried loudly. "You know what it means to be the king's wife!"

"I know it well and I'm not afraid. If I fail my death will be a glorious one. If I succeed I will have done a great service in my country."

The counselor was obligated to give away and went sadly to the palace to tell the king that the following evening he would bring him Teresa.

The king received the news with the greatest astonishment.

"Are you sure you want to sacrifice your daughter to me?" the king Patrick asked.

"Sir, it was her own wish." the counselor answered sad.

"Let there be no mistakes. Remember you will have to take her life. And you know what it will happen if you refuse." King Patrick said icily.

"Sir, whatever the cost, I will obey you." the counselor replied and king Patrick agreed to bring his daughter.

Teresa took the news as if it had been the most pleasant thing in the world. She thanked her father and told him to have faith in her and went to prepared herself for the wedding and asked to speak with her sister.

When they were alone Teresa said to her:

"My dear sister, I need your help in a very important task. Our father is going to take me to palace to celebrate my wedding with the king. When his highness receives me, I will beg him, as a last favor, to let you sleep in our chapter , so I can have your company during my last night. I am alive. If he granted my wish as I hope, be sure to wake me up an hour before the dawn and tell me this 'My sister, if you are not asleep, I beg you, before the sun rises, to tell me one of your charming stories'. Then I will begin and I hope by this mean to bring an end to the terror that reign over the people."

Anna agreed to do what her sister asked her with pleasure.

The next evening, the counselor arrived to the palace with Teresa and left her alone with the king Patrick. The king raised her veil and he was amazed from her beauty. But when he looked at her eyes full of fears he stopped and asked her the reason.

"Sir, I have a sister who loves me as tenderly as I love her. Grant me the favour of allowing her to sleep this night here, as it is the last night we will spent together." Teresa said and the king granted and Anna was sent for.

One hour before the sun rises Anna woke up and did as she had promised. She went to her sister and said:

"My sister, if you are not asleep, I beg you, before the sun rises, to tell me one of your charming stories. It is the last time to have the pleasure of hearing you."

Teresa turned to the king and asked: "Will your highness permit me to do as my sister asks?"

"Willingly. "King Patrick answered and Teresa began...

 _ **I love the story from the moment I read the first chapter of the book. Of course I will write only the important parts and not the whole story. It may have one or two chapters more. I don't know yet. What do you think? Please share freely your opinion.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello. Thanks for the reviews and follows. This chapter is short. Sorry about the delay but I was in a terrible mood after they killed one of my favorites ships in a different fandom. One more chapter to go . Until the next time :)**_

"Sir, once upon a time a merchant who had many dealing throughout the land, rode out a day to take a journey to arrange his affairs. At some time he sat under a tree and he took out a piece of bread and a date. When he finished he threw away his stone and a ifrit appeared with a scimitar in his hand.

"Arise!" the ifrit said loudly "Get up so that I can kill you as you killed my son."

"But, sir... what can I have possible done to you to deserve death? How can I have killed your son?" the merchant asked frowning.

"When you threw away the stone, my son passed by and one of them struck him in the ee and killed him. So now I have to kill you too." the ifrit explained furious.

"Sir, forgive me." the merchant cried. "If I killed him , it was an accident."

"I must kill you." the ifrit insisted and threw the merchant on the ground and raised his sword.

The merchant protested his innocent and recited these lines:

 **Time is two days, one safe and one of peril,**

 **And our lives are of two halves, one fair, one overcast.**

 **Say to those who reproach us for what Time has done:**

' **Does Time oppose any but great men?'**

 **Do you not see that when the storm winds blow,**

 **It is the tall trees that they strike?**

 **Corpses rise to the surface of the sea,**

 **While it is in its depths that pearls lie hid.**

 **It may be that Time will mishandle us,**

 **Subjecting us to constant harm.**

 **Though in the heavens there are countless stars,**

 **Only the sun and moon suffer eclipse.**

 **There are both green and dry boughs on the earth,**

 **But we throw stones only at those with fruit.**

 **You think well of the days when they are fine,**

 **So do not fear the evil that fate brings.**

But the ifrit was not touched at all."

"Indeed , my dear sister." Annie said. "This is a wonderful story."

"The rest is still more wonderful." Teresa said and saw that it was day. "If the king would allow me to live another day and leave me to tell it to you the next night."

"I will wait till tomorrow. I can always kill you after I hear the end of the story." King Patrick said after he had listen with great pleasure the story.

All this time the counselor was in a terrible state and when the king didn't give him the order to execute his daughter he felt relief .

The next morning Annie asked her sister to continue the story. Patrick didn't wait Teresa to ask his permission and ordered her to continue curious to learn the ending.

Teresa continued her story the second night and the morning she stopped at a critical moment.

"What a good, pleasant, delightful and sweet story this is." Annie said enthusiastically.

"How can this compare with what I will tell you this coming night if I am still alive and the king spares me?"Teresa said with a small smile.

"I'm not going to kill her until I hear the rest of this remarkable story." king Patrick thought and left for his appointments with the court until the evening.

All the previous night, the counselor was in a terrible anxiety about his daughter's life. So when he saw the King the next day and he didn't give him the order to execute her, he was much delight.

When the next morning came, the King didn't wait to ask for permission and told Teresa to continue so the young Queen went on with the story. The young Queen told a story and the King let her live to hear the end.

And this happened every morning...


End file.
